A landlord was found guilty in one of the first cases of its kind for failing to ‘obey’ new Electrical Safety Standards regulations.

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Last year the change in law was first introduced across England handing powers to councils to issues fines to PRS landlords for not following the new Electrical Safety regulations under the Private Sector (England) Regulations 2020.

The new powers allow authorities upon inspection of properties’ electrical installations conditions, confirming whether the landlord is following the regulations, or failing to do so, by backing up the findings in a report.

In the ‘first’ story covering the case of a landlord failing to follow the electrical ‘rules’ with Coventry council’s successful prosecution ending for the guilty party fined £1,600.

The council repeatedly requested the landlord of the property to provide an Electrical Installation Condition Report within the regulated seven days, which were subsequently ignored by the landlord.

Following the case the council also served the guilty landlord with a remedial notice to make sure the necessary action is taken to resolve the issue.

The EICR report should have been completed by a qualified electrician detailing that all electrical installations in a property were safe and a copy of given to the tenant.

Property Licensing and Housing Enforcement Manager for Coventry council, Adrian Chowns, says: “We believe this is the first time these powers have been used by a Local Authority in England. It highlights how Coventry City Council are taking a proactive approach to enforcement and clamping down on rogue landlords in its city.”

In a separate case, Coventry council has just applied for its first banning order on a landlord found guilty for failing to comply with HMO management regulations.

He continues: “The landlord has committed multiple offences both recently and in the past, all of which are serious in their nature, and has put multiple tenants at risk of harm.

“We’ve provided lots of advice to the landlord, but he has continued to contravene the law and there are no signs of improvement.”

If the council is successful in being awarded a banning order on the landlord, he will be unable to let out a house as well as being barred from any form of property management.

If the landlord breaches the potential banning order he could face a jail sentence of up to 51 weeks, a civil penalty or court fine for as much as £30,000.